http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t6p1emSaRV4
Developer Tom Burns wrote in with info on his new DJ app for Android devices, DJPad.
I’ve released a low latency dual MP3 DJing application for Android.
Features a 3-band EQ, multitouch mixer and crossfader, split output for headphone cueing, waveform view and multi-directory library. This app is under development and we are working hard to continue to update and add features quickly. DJPad Lite is the ad-supported version of DJPad, which is available for $2.99 from the Android Market.
There is a free version that is ad-supported but otherwise fully featured:
And the paid version is $2.99 and has no ads:
The Android platform has lagged behind iOS, because of latency, platform fragmentation and other issues. If you’re an Android device user and you give DJPad a try, let us know what you’re running and how it works for you.
I just downloaded the demo version quickly on to my Acer Ionia a100, a middle-upper class 7-inch tablet, with 4-finger multi-touch. Here’s a quick mini review. Let me preface by saying i’m not a DJ.
Pros:
-Very low latency. I didn’t notice any latency issues.
-Nice, easy to use interface. Everything was intuitive.
-The nag screens (screens telling you to buy the full version) don’t pop up during playback, so they won’t cripple your performance on the demo version.
-Setting and recalling cue points is easy, something some other DJ-Apps struggle with.
Cons:
– No multi-touch. Almost right away i noticed you couldn’t do thinks like hit both cue buttons at the same time, or hit a cue button while changing the EQ. This is a fairly glaring omission, although i imagine it falls under the category of “under development”
– The pitch/bpm changers (i don’t know the proper term) only go to 8% in either direction. This seems like a fairly slim margin to be able to change the bpm by (although, like i said, i’m not a DJ). They’re also slightly counter-intuitive, as you scroll up to slow the song down, and scroll down to speed the song up.
– Some visual feedback when you set a cue point would be nice. Just a little dot or something.
– Auto-bpm matching would be nice
They’ve got a very useable app, it also seems to scale fairly well to a 7-inch screen, and the latency is some of the lowest i’ve seen. If they address the multi-touch issue, they’re a very small amount of tweaking away from having one of the best (if not the best) DJ android apps currently on the market. The app’s issues lay primarily in the lack of multi-touch, and some minor aesthetic-interface things, like the lack of visual feedback when setting a cue point.
My thoughts on android as a platform can be summed up as follows: Yes it’s going to lag behind iOS in terms of music creation, probably for 2-5 more years, but it’s got far more possibilities than iOS, simply because it’s open-source. Mixers could have android built in, rather than having to shove an ipad into it. It might seem minor, but it means that rather than having to own 3 ipads to operate all your iOS gear, you could own an android mixer, a android multi-synth, and an android tablet. Yes, android will take a while to catch up, but once it does, it’s going to be awesome.
Even if my my idealized vision of Android never comes to pass, the worst case scenario is it’ll drive down the price of ipads.
“Mixers could have android built in, rather than having to shove an ipad into it. It might seem minor, but it means that rather than having to own 3 ipads to operate all your iOS gear, you could own an android mixer, a android multi-synth, and an android tablet. Yes, android will take a while to catch up, but once it does, it’s going to be awesome.”
Interesting scenario and not too far-fetched. Apple’s not going to give up the territory without a fight, though, which should be good for buyers!
Thanks for the review guys!
To the above commenter, you are right about multitouch. It’s actually a bug. It works in the WebOS version but I need to work on the CJava layer that I use to add Multitouch support. It should be coming in the next week or so! The other things you mention (8%, up/down inversion) actually mimics the Technics SL1200 turntable, so I figured why reinvent the wheels of steel so to speak… 🙂
When’s the iPad version coming out?
Opcode Studio Vision is the winner!
“why reinvent the wheels of steel”
Well, because every other DJ app has already done it. You’d be reinventing nothing. Just accept that this is a normal feature of pretty much every DJ app and make it real please! 🙂
This looks great from the video. Couple of things… can you “nudge” forward and back using the waveform? This isn’t demonstrated. Would be very hard to beat match without a similar feature. I haven’t done a live demo of this (waiting delivery of tablet) but another great thing to have is lots of configurable options. Double tap to reset rotary dials, that sort of guff.
Question: what is the deal with latency of loading mp3s? Where is the bottleneck? I tried Droid DJ on my Desire – slow I know, but the load time was unbelievable. Uninstalled it before I even got it working.
Looks good tho, keep it up!
I like that pitch is only +/- 8%. Thats enough for my “dayli” use as I prefer a more exactly ptich instead of having a +/- 100% range.
About the 8%… 10% up or down really change the song, that is the reason why vinyl 1200 has (only) 8% pitch variation. I do agree however that making this a user selectable value would solve the matter for good. In my case, 8% is enough.
I would love to see a sync function, Traktor meta support for file info (BMP, key, etc) and key lock. With that I would leave my Traktor laptop at home when travelling!
Also the cue points with some sort of indication will help.
Keep up the good work! And thanks for developing this…
Ia m buying my first tablet, and use a laptop with MIxxx in Xubuntu, linked into a DJ mixer with CD decks I will be trying this app with interest, in a similar configuration, with tne tablet in place of the lappy